sources of catholic dogma 700-800

700 The fifth sacrament is extreme unction, whose matter is the
olive oil blessed by the bishop. This sacrament should be given only to
the sick of whose death there is fear; and he should be anointed in the
following places: on the eyes because of sight, on the ears because of
hearing, on the nostrils because of smell, on the mouth because of
taste and speech, on the hands because of touch, on the feet because of
gait, on the loins because of the delight that flourishes there. The
form of this sacrament is the following: Per istam sanctam unctionem et
suam piissimam misericordiam indulgeat tibi Dominus, quidquid per
visum, etc. (Through this holy anointing and his most kind mercy may
the Lord forgive you whatever through it, etc.). And similarly on the
other members. The minister of this sacrament is the priest. Now the
effect is the healing of the mind and, moreover, in so far as it is
expedient, of the body itself also. On this sacrament blessed James,
the Apostle says: "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the
priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the
sick man; and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they
shall be forgiven him" [Jas. 5:14, 15].

701 The sixth sacrament is that of order, the matter of which is that
through whose transmission the order is conferred: * just as the
priesthood is transmitted through the offering of the chalice with wine
and of the paten with bread; the diaconate, however, by the giving of
the book of the Gospels; but the subdiaconate by the giving of the
empty chalice with the empty paten superimposed; and similarly with
regard to the others by allotment of things pertaining to their
ministry. The form of such priesthood is: Accipe potestatem offerendi
sacrificium in ecclesia pro vivis et mortuis, in nomine Patris et Filii
et Spiritus Sancti.And thus with regard to the forms of the other
orders, as is contained extensively in the Roman pontifical. The
ordinary minister of this sacrament is the bishop. The effect is
increase of grace, so that the one ordained be a worthy minister.

702 The seventh is the sacrament of matrimony, which is the sign
of the joining of Christ and the Church according to the Apostle who
says: "This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the
church" [Eph. 5:32]. The efficient cause of matrimony is regularly
mutual consent expressed by words in person. Moreover, there is
allotted a threefold good on the part of matrimony. First, the progeny
is to be accepted and brought up for the worship of God. Second, there
is faith which one of the spouses ought to keep for the other. Third,
there is the indivisibility of marriage, because it signifies the
indivisible union of Christ and the Church. Although, moreover, there
may be a separation of the marriage couch by reason of fornication,
nevertheless, it is not permitted to contract another marriage, since
the bond of a marriage legitimately contracted is perpetual.

A Decree in Behalf of the Jacobites *

[From the Bull "Cantata Domino," February 4, Florentine style,

1441, modern, 1442]

703 The sacrosanct Roman Church, founded by the voice of our Lord and
Savior, firmly believes, professes, and preaches one true God
omnipotent, unchangeable, and eternal, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; one
in essence, three in persons; Father unborn, Son born of the Father,
Holy Spirit proceeding from Father and Son; that the Father is not Son
or Holy Spirit, that Son is not Father or Holy Spirit; that Holy Spirit
is not Father or Son; but Father alone is Father, Son alone is Son,
Holy Spirit alone is Holy Spirit. The Father alone begot the Son of His
own substance; the Son alone was begotten of the Father alone; the Holy
Spirit alone proceeds at the same time from the Father and Son. These
three persons are one God, and not three gods, because the three have
one substance, one essence, one nature, one divinity, one immensity,
one eternity, and all these things are one where no opposition of
relationship interferes . *

704 "Because of this unity the Father is entire in the Son,
entire in the Holy Spirit; the Son is entire in the Father, entire in
the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is entire in the Father, entire in the
Son. No one either excels another in eternity, or exceeds in magnitude,
or is superior in power. For the fact that the Son is of the Father is
eternal and without beginning. and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from
the Father and the Son is eternal and without beginning.''*Whatever the
Father is or has, He does not have from another, but from Himself; and
He is the principle without principle. Whatever the Son is or has, He
has from the Father, and is the principle from a principle. Whatever
the Holy Spirit is or has, He has simultaneously from the Father and
the Son. But the Father and the Son are not two principles of the Holy
Spirit, but one principle, just as the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit are not three principles of the creature, but one principle.

705 Whoever, therefore, have adverse and contrary opinions the
Church disapproves and anathematizes and declares to be foreign to the
Christian body which is the Church. Hence it condemns Sabellius who
confuses the persons and completely takes away their real distinction.
It condemns the Arians, the Eunomians, the Macedonians who say that
only the Father is the true God, but put the Son and the Holy Spirit in
the order of creatures. It condemns also any others whatsoever who
place grades or inequality in the Trinity.

706 Most strongly it believes, professes, and declares that the one
true God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, is the creator of all things
visible and invisible, who, when He wished, out of His goodness created
all creatures, spiritual as well as corporal; good indeed, since they
were made by the highest good, but changeable, since they were made
from nothing, and it asserts that nature is not evil, since all nature,
in so far as it is nature, is good. It professes one and the same God
as the author of the Old and New Testament, that is, of the Law and the
Prophets and the Gospel, since the saints of both Testaments have
spoken with the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, whose books, which
are contained under the following titles it accepts and venerates. [The
books of the canon follow, cf.n. 784; EB n. 32].

707 Besides it anathematizes the madness of the Manichaeans, who have
established two first principles, one of the visible, and another of
the invisible; and they have said that there is one God of the New
Testament, another God of the Old Testament.

708 It believe, professes, and proclaims that one person of the
Trinity, true God, Son of God born from the Father, consubstantial and
coeternal with the Father, in the plenitude of time which the
inscrutable depth of divine counsel has disposed for the salvation of
the human race, assumed true and complete human nature from the
immaculate womb of the Virgin Mary, and joined with itself in the unity
of person, with such unity that whatever is of God there, is not
separated from man, and whatever is of man, is not divided from the
Godhead; He is one and the same undivided, both natures, God and man,
remaining in their own peculiar properties, God and man, Son of God and
Son of man, equal to the Father according to divinity, less than the
Father according to humanity, immortal and eternal from the nature of
divinity, passible and temporal from the condition of assumed humanity.

709 It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that the Son of God in
the assumed humanity was truly born of the Virgin, truly suffered,
truly died and was buried, truly rose again from the dead, ascended
into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come at
the end of time to judge the living and the dead.

710 It, moreover, anathematizes, execrates, and condemns every heresy
that suggests contrary things. And first it condemns Ebion, Cerinthus,
Marcion, Paul of Samosata, Photinus, and all similar blasphemers, who,
being unable to accept the personal union of humanity with the Word,
denied that our Lord Jesus Christ was true God, proclaiming Him pure
man, who was called divine man by reason of a greater participation in
divine grace, which He had received by merit of a more holy life. It
anathematizes also Manichaeus with his followers, who, thinking vainly
that the Son of God had assumed not a true but an ephemeral body,
entirely do away with the truth of the humanity in Christ. And also
Valentinus who asserts that the Son of God took nothing from the Virgin
Mary, but assumed a heavenly body and passed through the womb of the
Virgin just as water flows and runs through an aqueduct. Arius also,
who asserted that the body assumed from the Virgin lacked a soul, and
would have the Godhead in place of the soul. Also Apollinaris, who,
understanding that there was no true humanity if in Christ the soul is
denied as giving the body form, posited only a sensitive soul, but held
that the Godhead of the Word took the place of a rational soul. It also
anathematizes Theodore of Mopsuestia and Nestorius who assert that
humanity was united with the Son of God through grace, and hence there
are two persons in Christ, just as they confess that there are two
natures, since they were unable to understand that the union of
humanity with the Word was hypostatic, and so refused to accept the
subsistence of God. For according to this blasphemy, the Word was not
made flesh, but the Word through grace lived in the flesh; that is, He
was made not the Son of God, but rather the Son of God lived in man. It
anathematizes also, execrates, and condemns Eutyches the archimandrite;
since he believed according to the blasphemy of Nestorius that the
truth of the Incarnation is excluded, and therefore it is fitting that
humanity was so united to the Word of God that the person of the
Godhead and of humanity were one and the same, and also, he could not
grasp the unity of person as long as a plurality of natures existed,
just as he established that there was one person of the Godhead and
humanity in Christ, so he asserted that there was one nature, meaning
that before the union there was a duality of natures, but in the
assumption they passed over into one nature, with the greatest
blasphemy and impiety granting either that humanity was turned into
Godhead, or Godhead into humanity. It also anathematizes, execrates,
and condemns Macarius of Antioch and all who hold similar views;
although he had a correct understanding of the duality of natures and
the unity of person, yet he erred greatly concerning the operations of
Christ when he said that in Christ there was one operation and one will
on the part of both natures. All these, together with their heresies,
the Holy Roman Church anathematizes, affirming that there are two wills
and two operations in Christ.

711 It firmly believes, professes, and teaches that no one
conceived of man and woman was ever freed of the domination of the
Devil, except through the merit of the mediator between God and men,
our Lord Jesus Christ; He who was conceived without sin, was born and
died, through His death alone laid low the enemy of the human race by
destroying our sins, and opened the entrance to the kingdom of heaven,
which the first man by his own sin had lost with all succession; and
that He would come sometime, all the sacred rites of the Old Testament,
sacrifices, sacraments, and ceremonies disclosed.

712 It firmly believes, professes, and teaches that the matter
pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, of the Mosiac law, which
are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments,
because they were established to signify something in the future,
although they were suited to the divine worship at that time, after our
Lord's coming had been signified by them, ceased, and the sacraments of
the New Testament began; and that whoever, even after the passion,
placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted himself to them
as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not save
without them, sinned mortally. Yet it does not deny that after the
passion of Christ up to the promulgation of the Gospel they could have
been observed until they were believed to be in no way necessary for
salvation; but after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that
they cannot be observed without the loss of eternal salvation. All,
therefore, who after that time observe circumcision and the Sabbath and
the other requirements of the law, it declares alien to the Christian
faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation,
unless someday they recover from these errors. Therefore, it commands
all who glory in the name of Christian, at whatever time, before or
after baptism' to cease entirely from circumcision, since, whether or
not one places hope in it, it cannot be observed at all without the
loss of eternal salvation. Regarding children, indeed, because of
danger of death, which can often take place, when no help can be
brought to them by another remedy than through the sacrament of
baptism, through which they are snatched from the domination of the
Devil and adopted among the sons of God, it advises that holy baptism
ought not to be deferred for forty or eighty days, or any time
according to the observance of certain people, but it should be
conferred as soon as it can be done conveniently, but so that, when
danger of death is imminent, they be baptized in the form of the
Church, early without delay, even by a layman or woman, if a priest
should be lacking, just as is contained more fully in the decree of the
Armenians [[n.. 696].

713 It believes firmly, professes, and proclaims that "every
creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected that is received
with thanksgiving" [ 1 Tim. 4:4], since, according to the word of the
Lord [ Matt.. 15: 11 ], "not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a
man"; and it asserts that the indifference of clean and unclean foods
of the Mosiac law pertains to the ceremonials which, with the rise of
the Gospel passed out of existence and ceased to be efficacious.. And
it says also that the prohibition of theapostles "from things
sacrificed to idols, and from blood and from things strangled [ Acts
15:29] befitted that time in which one Church arose from the Jews and
the Gentiles, who before lived according to different ceremonies and
customs, so that even the Gentiles observed some things in common with
the Jews, and occasion was furnished for coming together into one
worship of God and one faith, and ground for dissension was removed;
since to the Jews, by reason of an ancient custom, blood and things
strangled seemed abominable, and they could think that the Gentiles
would return to idolatry because of the eating of things sacrificed.
But when the Christian religion is so propagated that no carnal Jew
appears in it, but all passing over to the Church, join in the same
rites and ceremonies of the Gospel, believing "all things clean to the
clean" [Tit. 1:15], with the ending of the cause for this apostolic
prohibition, the effect also ended. Thus it declares that the nature of
no food, which society admits, is to be condemned, and no distinction
is to be made by anyone at all, whether man or woman, between animals,
and by whatever kind of death they meet their end; although for the
health of body, for the exercise of virtue, for regular and
ecclesiastical discipline many things not denied should be given up,
since, according to the Apostle, "all things are lawful, but all things
are not expedient" [1 Cor.. 6:12; 10:22].

714 It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living
within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics
and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life, but will
depart "into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his
angels" [Matt. 25:41], unless before the end of life the same have been
added to the flock; and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so
strong that only to those remaining in it are the sacraments of the
Church of benefit for salvation, and do fastings, almsgiving, and other
functions of piety and exercises of Christian service produce eternal
reward, and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if
he has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has
remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church. *

(The decrees forGreeksand Armenians of the ecumenical

Synod accepted by the Roman Church follow.)

715 But since in the above written decree of the Armenians the form of
the words, which in the consecration of the body and blood of the Lord
the holy Roman Church confirmed by the teaching and authority of the
Apostles had always been accustomed to use, was not set forth, we have
thought that it ought to be inserted here. In the consecration of the
body the Church uses this form of the words: "For this is my body"; but
in the consecration of the blood, it uses the following form of the
words: "For this is the chalice of my blood, the new and eternal
testament, the mystery of faith, which will be poured forth for you and
many for the remission of sins." But it makes no difference at all
whether the wheaten bread in which the sacrament is effected was cooked
on that day or before; for, provided that the substance of bread
remains, there can be no doubt but that after the aforesaid words of
the consecration of the body have been uttered with the intention of
effecting, it will be changed immediately into the substance of the
true body of Christ.

The decrees for the Syrians, Chaldeans, Meronites

contain nothing new

NICHOLAS V 1447 - 1455

CALLISTUS III 1455-1458

Usury and Contract for Rent *

[From the Constitution ""Regimini universalis," May 6, 1455]

716 A petition recently addressed to us proposed the following matter:
For a very long time, and with nothing in memory running to the
contrary, in various parts of Germany, for the common advantage of
society, there has been implanted among the inhabitants of those parts
and maintained up to this time through constant observance, a certain
custom. By this custom, these inhabitants--or, at least, those among
them, who in the light of their condition and indemnities, seemed
likely to profit from the arrangement--encumber their goods, their
houses, their fields, their farms, their possessions, and inheritances,
selling the revenues or annual rents in marks, florins, or groats
(according as this or that coin is current in those particular
regions), and for each mark, florin, or groat in question, from those
who have bought those coins, whether as revenues or as rents, have been
in the habit of receiving a certain price appropriately fixed as to
size according to the character of the particular circumstances, in
conformity with the agreements made in respect of the relevant
properties between themselves and the buyers. As guarantee for the
payment of the aforesaid revenues and rents they mortgage those of the
aforesaid houses, lands, fields, farms, possessions, and inheritances
that have been expressly named * in the relevant contracts. In the
favor of the sellers it is added to the contract that in proportion as
they have, in whole or in part, returned to the said buyers the money
thus received, they are entirely quit and free of the obligation to pay
the revenues and rents corresponding to the sum returned. But the
buyers, on the other hand, even though the said goods, houses, lands,
fields, possessions, and inheritances might by the passage of time be
reduced to utter destruction and desolation, would not be empowered to
recover even in respect of the price paid.

Now, by some a certain doubt and hesitation is entertained as to
whether contracts of this kind are to be considered licit.
Consequently, certain debtors, pretending these contracts would be
usurious, seek to find thereby an occasion for the nonpayment of
revenues and rents owed by them in this way. . . . We, therefore, ...
in order to remove every doubt springing from these hesitations, by our
Apostolic authority, do declare by these present letters that the
aforesaid contracts are licit and in agreement with law, and that the
said sellers, yielding all opposition, are effectively bound to the
payment of the rents and revenues in conformity with the terms of the
said contracts. [The reader is referred to the discussion of this text
given by L. Choupin A.Vacant-E Mangenot, Dict. de theol. cash. 2
(Paris, 1905) 1351-1362 (art.'Calliste III,' sec. ii). The Translator.]

PIUS II 1458-1464

Appeal to the General Council *

[From the Bull "Exsecrabilis,"* Jan. 18; in the ancient Roman opinion 1459; that of today 1460]

717 The execrable and hitherto unheard of abuse has grown up in our
day, that certain persons, imbued with the spirit of rebellion, and not
from a desire to secure a better judgment, but to escape the punishment
of some offense which they have committed, presume to appeal to a
future council from the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Jesus Christ, to
whom in the person of the blessed PETER was said: "Feed my sheep" [John
21:17], and, "Whatever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in
heaven" [Matt. 16:19]. . . . Wishing therefore to expel this
pestiferous poison far from the Church of Christ and to care for the
salvation of the flock entrusted to us, and to remove every cause of
offense from the fold of our Savior . . . we condemn all such appeals
and disprove them as erroneous and detestable.

Errors of Zanini de Solcia *

[Condemned in the letter "Cum sicut," Nov. 14, 1459]

717a (1) That the world should be naturally destroyed and ended by the
heat of the sun consuming the humidity of the land and the air in such
a way that the elements are set on fire.

717b (2) That all Christians are to be saved.

717c (3) That God created another world than this one, and that in its
time many other men and women existed and that consequently Adam was
not the first man.

717d (4) Likewise, that Jesus Christ suffered and died not for the
redemption because of His love of the human race, but by the law of the
stars.

717e (5) Likewise, that Jesus Christ, Moses, and Mohammed ruled the world by the pleasure of their wills.

717f (6) And that the same Lord our Jesus is illegitimate, and
that He exists in the consecrated hosts not with respect to His
humanity but with respect to His divinity only.

717g (7) That wantonness outside of matrimony is not a sin, unless by
the prohibition of positive laws, and that these have not disposed of
the matter well, and are checked by ecclesiastical prohibition only
from following the opinion of Epicurus as true.

717h (8) Moreover that the taking away of another's property is
not a mortal sin, even though against the will of the master.

717i (a) Finally that the Christian law through the succession of
another law is about to have an end, just as the law of Moses has been
terminated by the law of Christ.

Zaninus, Canon of Pergamum, is said to have presumed to Affirm
these propositions"in a sacrilegious attempt against the dogmas of the
holy Fathers and later to assert them rashly with polluted lips,"but
afterwards to have freely renounced "these aforesaid errors."

The Blood of Christ *

[From the Bull "Ineffabilis summi providentia Patris," Aug. 1, 1464]

718 . . . By apostolic authority by the tenor of these presents we
state and ordain that none of the aforesaid Brethren (Minors and
Preachers) hereafter be allowed to dispute, to preach, to make a
statement either publicly or privately, concerning the above mentioned
doubt, or to persuade others, that it may be heretical or a sin to hold
or to believe that the most sacred blood itself (as is set before us)
in the three days of the passion of the same Lord Jesus Christ from the
divinity Himself was or was not divided or separated in some way, until
beyond a question of a doubt of this kind what must be held has been
defined by us and the Apostolic See.

PAUL II 1464-1471

SIXTUS IV 1471-1484

Errors of Peter de Rivo (concerning the Truth of Future Contingencies) *

[Condemned in the Bull "Ad Christi vicarii,'' Jan. 3, 1474]

719 (1) When Elizabeth spoke to the Blessed Virgin Mary saying:
"Blessed art thou that hast believed because those things shall be
accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord" [Luke 1:45], she
seemed to intimate that those propositions, namely: "Thou shalt bring
forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus: He shall be great,
etc." [Luke 1:31],do not yet contain truth.

720 (2) Likewise, when Christ after His resurrection said: "All things
must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and in
the prophets and in the psalms concerning me" [ Luke 24:44] seems to
have implied that such propositions were devoid of truth.

721 (3) Likewise, when the Apostle said: "For the law, having a shadow
of the good things to come, not the very image of things [ Heb. 10:1],
he seems to imply that the propositions of the Old Law which concerned
the future, did not yet contain the prescribed truth.

722 (4) Likewise, that it does not suffice for the truth of the
proposition concerning the future, that the thing will be, but there is
required that it will be without impediment.

723 (5) Likewise, it is necessary to say one of two things, either that
in the articles of faith concerning the future actual truth is not
present, or that what is signified in them through divine power could
not have been hindered.

They were condemnedas "scandalous and deviating from the path of
Catholic faith";they were revoked by the written word of Peter himself.

Indulgence for the Dead

[From the Bull in favor of the Church of St. Peter

of Xancto, Aug. 3, 1476] *

723a In order that the salvation of souls may be procured rather at
that time when they need the prayers of others more, and when they can
be of benefit to themselves less, by Apostolic authority from the
treasure of the Church wishing to come to the aid of the souls who
departed from the life united with Christ through charity, and who,
while they lived, merited that they be favored by such indulgence;
desiring this with paternal selection, in so far as with God's help we
can, confident in the mercy of God and in the plenitude of His power,
we both concede and grant that, if any parents, friends, or other
faithful of Christ, moved in behalf of these souls who are exposed to
purgatorial fire for the expiation of punishments due them according to
divine justice, during the aforementioned ten year period give a
certain sum of money for the repair of the church of Xancto, or a value
according to an arrangement with the dean or overseer of said church,
or our collector by visiting said church or send it during said ten
year period through messengers delegated by the same, we grant as a
suffrage a plenary remission to assist and intercede for the souls in
purgatory, in whose behalf they paid the said sum of money or the
value, as mentioned above, for the remission of punishments.

Errors of Peter de Osma (the Sacrament of Penance) *

[Condemned in the Bull "Licet ea," August 9, 1479]

724 (1) That the confession of sins in species will be found really in a statute of the universal Church, not in divine law;

725 (2) that mortal sins with respect to blame and punishment of the
other world are abolished without confession, by contrition of heart
only;

726 (3) moreover, bad thoughts are forgiven by displeasure only;

727 (4) that it is not demanded of necessity that confession be secret; *

728 (5) that those who confess should not be absolved, if penance has not been done;

729 (6) that the Roman Pontiff cannot remit the punishment of purgatory;*

731 (7) cannot dispense with respect to what the universal Church has established;

732 (8) also that the sacrament of penance, as far as concerns the
accumulation of grace, is of nature, but not of the institution of the
New or Old Testament.

733 On these propositions we read in the Bull, Sect. 6: . . We declare
each and all the above mentioned propositions to be false, contrary to
the holy Catholic faith, erroneous, and scandalous, and entirely at
variance with the truth of the Gospels, also contrary to the decrees of
the holy Fathers and other apostolic constitutions and to contain
manifest heresy.

The Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. *

[From the Constitution "Cum praeexcelsa," Feb. 28, 1476]

734 While in an examination of devout deliberation we are thoroughly
investigating the distinguished marks of merit, by which the Queen of
Heaven, the glorious Virgin Mother of God, is preferred to all in the
heavenly courts; just as among the stars the morning star foretells the
dawn, we consider it just, even a duty, that all the faithful of Christ
for the miraculous conception of this immaculate Virgin, give praise
and thanks to Almighty God (whose providence beholding from all
eternity the humility of this same Virgin, to reconcile with its author
human nature exposed to eternal death because of the fall of the first
man, by the preparation of the Holy Spirit constituted her the
habitation of His Only-begotten Son, from whom He took on the flesh of
our mortality for the redemption of His people, and the Virgin remained
immaculate even after childbirth), and therefore that they say Masses
and other divine offices instituted in the Church of God, and that they
attend them to ask by indulgences and by the remission of sins to
become more worthy of divine grace by the merits of and by the
intercession of this same Virgin.

[From the Constitution "Grave nimis," Sept. 4, 1483]

735 Although the Holy Roman Church solemnly celebrates the public feast
of the conception of the immaculate Mary ever Virgin, and has ordained
a special and proper office for this feast, some preachers of different
orders, as we have heard, in their sermons to the people in public
throughout different cities and lands have not been ashamed to affirm
up to this time, and daily cease not to affirm, that all those who hold
orassert that the same glorious and immaculate mother of God was
conceived without the stain of original sin, sin mortally, or that they
are heretical' who celebrate the office of this same immaculate
conception, and that those who listen to the sermons of those who
affirm that she was conceived without this sin, sin grievously. . . .

We reprove and condemn assertions of this kind as false and
erroneous and far removed from the truth, and also by apostolic
authority and the tenor of these present [letters] we condemn and
disapprove on this point published books which contain it . . . [but
these also we reprehend] who have dared to assert that those holding
the contrary opinion, namely, that the glorious Virgin Mary was
conceived with original sin are guilty of the crime of heresy and of
mortal sin, since up to this time there has been no decision made by
the Roman Church and the Apostolic See.

INNOCENT VIII 1484-1492 PIUS III 1503

ALEXANDER VI 1492-1503 JULIUS 1503-1513

LEO X 1513-1521

LATERAN COUNCIL V 1512-1517

Ecumenical XVIII (The Reform of the Church)

The Human Soul (against the Neo-Aristoteliars) *

[From the Bull "Apostolic) Regiminis" (Session VIII),Dec. 19, 1513]

738 Since in our days (and we painfully bring this up) the sower of
cockle, ancient enemy of the human race, has dared to disseminate and
advance in the field of the Lord a number of pernicious errors, always
rejected by the faithful, especially concerning the nature of the
rational soul, namely, that it is mortal, or one in all men, and some
rashly philosophizing affirmed that this is true at least according to
philosophy, in our desire to offer suitable remedies against a plague
of this kind, with the approval of this holy Council, we condemn and
reject all who assert that the intellectual soul is mortal, or is one
in all men, and those who cast doubt on these truths, since it [the
soul] is not only truly in itself and essentially the form of the human
body, as was defined in the canon of Pope CLEMENT V our predecessor of
happy memory published in the (yen eral) Council of VIENNE [n. 481] but
it is also multiple according to the multitude of bodies into which it
is infused, multiplied, and to be multiplied. . . . And since truth
never contradicts truth, we declare [see n. 1797] every assertion
contrary to the truth of illumined faith to be altogether false; and,
that it may not be permitted to dogmatize otherwise, we strictly forbid
it, and we decree that all who adhere to errors of this kind are to be
shunned and to be punished as detestable and abominable infidels who
disseminate most damnable heresies and who weaken the Catholic faith.

"Mountains of Piety" and Usury *

[From the Bull "Inter multiplices," April 28

(Session X, May 4), 1515]

739 With the approval of the holy Council, we declare and define that
the aforesaid "Mountains of piety" established by the civil authorities
and thus far approved and confirmed by the authority of the Apostolic
See, in which a moderate rate of interest is received exclusively for
the expenses of the officials and for other things pertaining to their
keeping, as is set forth, for an indemnity of these as far as this
matter is concerned, beyond the capital without a profit for these same
Mountains, neither offer any species of evil, nor furnish an incentive
to sin, nor in any way are condemned, nay rather that such a loan is
worthwhile and is to be praised and approved, and least of all to be
considered usury. . . . Moreover, we declare that all religious and
ecclesiastics as well as secular persons, who henceforth shall dare to
preach or dispute in word or in writing against the form of the present
declaration and sanction, incur the penalty of excommunication of a
sentence [automatically] imposed [latae sententiae],a privilege of any
nature whatsoever notwithstanding.

The Relation Between the Pope and the Councils *

[From the Bull "Pastor Aeternus" (Session Xl) Dec. 19, 1516]

740 Nor should this move us, that the sanction [pragmatic] itself, and
the things contained in it were proclaimed in the Council of Basle . .
.. since all these acts were made after the translation of that same
Council of Basle from the place of the assembly at Basle, and therefore
could have no weight, since it is clearly established that the Roman
Pontiff alone, possessing as it were authority over all Councils, has
full right and power Of proclaiming Councils, or transferring and
dissolving them, not only according to the testimony of Sacred
Scripture, from the words of the holy Fathers and even of other Roman
Pontiffs, of our predecessors, and from the decrees of the holy canons,
but also from the particular acknowledgment of these same Councils.

Indulgences *

[From the Bull "Cum postquam" to the Legate Cajetan

de Vio, Nov. 9, 1518]

740a And lest in the future anyone should allege ignorance of the
doctrine of the Roman Church concerning such indulgences and their
ellicacy, or excuse himself under pretext of such ignorance, or aid
himself by pretended protestations, but that these same persons may be
convicted as guilty of notorious lying and be justly condemned, we have
decided that you should be informed by these presents that the Roman
Church, which the other churches are bound to follow as their mother,
has decreed that the Roman Pontiff, the successor of PETER the key
bearer, and the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, by the power of the
keys, to which it belongs to open the kingdom of heaven, by removing
the obstacles in the faithful of Christ (namely the fault and
punishment due to actual sins, the fault by means of the sacrament of
penance, but the temporal punishment due for actual sins according to
divine justice by means of the indulgence of the Church), for the same
reasonable causes can concede indulgences from the superabundant merits
of Christ and the saints to these same faithful of Christ, who belong
to Christ by the charity that joins the members, whether they be in
this life or in purgatory; and by granting an indulgence by apostolic
authority to the living as well as to the dead, has been accustomed to
dispense from the treasury of the merits of Jesus Christ and the
saints, and by means of absolution to confer that same indugence or to
transfer it by means of suffrage. And for that reason that all, the
living as well as the dead, who have truly gained such indulgences, are
freed from such temporal punishment due for their actual sins according
to divine justice, as is equivalent to the indulgence granted and
acquired. And thus by apostolic authority in accordance with the tenor
of these letters we decree that it should be held by all and be
preached under punishment of excommunication, of a sentence
[automatically] imposed [latae sententiae]. . . . .

Leo X sent this Bull to the Swiss in the year 1519 withaletter
dated April 30, 1519, in which he concluded as follows concerning the
doctrine of the Bull:

740b You will be solicitous about a thorough consideration and
preservation of the power of the Roman Pontiff in the granting of such
indulgences according to the true definition of the Roman Church, which
we have commanded should be observed and preached by all . . .
according to these letters which we are ordering to be delivered to you
. . . You will firmly abide by the true decision of the Holy Roman
Church and to this Holy See, which does not permit errors.

Errors of Martin Luther *

[Condemned in the Bull "Exsurge Domine," June 15, 1520]

741 I. It is an heretical opinion, but a common one, that the
sacraments of the New Law give pardoning grace to those who do not set
up an obstacle.

742 2. To deny that in a child after baptism sin remains is to treat with contempt both Paul and Christ.

743 3. The inflammable sources [ fomes] of sin, even if there be no
actual sin, delays a soul departing from the body from entrance into
heaven.

4. To one on the point of death imperfect charity necessarily brings

744 with it great fear, which in itself alone is enough to produce the
punishment of purgatory, and impedes entrance into the kingdom.

5. That there are three parts to penance: contrition, confession, and

745 satisfaction, has no foundation in Sacred Scripture nor in the ancient sacred Christian doctors.

6. Contrition, which is acquired through discussion, collection, and

746 detestation of sins, by which one reflects upon his years in
the bitterness of his soul, by pondering over the gravity of sins,
their number, their baseness, the loss of eternal beatitude, and the
acquisition of eternal damnation, this contrition makes him a
hypocrite, indeed more a sinner.

747 7. It is a most truthful proverb and the doctrine concerning
the contrition given thus far is the more remarkable: "Not to do so in
the future is the highest penance; the best penance, a new life."

748 8. By no means may you presume to confess venial sins, nor
even all mortal sins, because it is impossible that you know all mortal
sins. Hence in the primitive Church only manifest mortal sins were
confessed.

749 9. As long as we wish to confess all sins without exception, we are
doing nothing else than to wish to leave nothing to God's mercy for
pardon.

750 10. Sins are not forgiven to anyone, unless when the priest
forgives them he believes they are forgiven; on the contrary the sin
would remain unless he believed it was forgiven; for indeed the
remission of sin and the granting of grace does not suffice, but it is
necessary also to believe that there has been forgiveness.

751 11. By no means can you have reassurance of being absolved
because of your contrition, but because of the word of Christ:
"Whatsoever you shall loose, etc." [Matt. 16:19]. Hence, I say, trust
confidently, if you have obtained the absolution of the priest, and
firmly believe yourself to have been absolved, and you will truly be
absolved, whatever there may be of contrition.

752 12. If through an impossibility he who confessed was not
contrite, orthe priest did not absolve seriously, but in a jocose
manner, if nevertheless he believes that he has been absolved, he is
most truly absolved.

753 13. In the sacrament of penance and the remission of sin the pope
or the bishop does no more than the lowest priest; indeed, where there
is no priest, any Christian, even if a woman or child, may equally do
as much.

754 14. No one ought to answer a priest that he is contrite, nor should the priest inquire.

755 15. Great is the error of those who approach the sacrament of the
Eucharist relying on this, that they have confessed, that they are not
conscious of any mortal sin, that they have sent their prayers on ahead
and made preparations; all these eat and drink judgment to themselves.
But if they believe and trust that they will attain grace, then this
faith alone makes them pure and worthy.

756 16. It seems to have been decided that the Church in common Council
established that the laity should communicate under both species; the
Bohemians who communicate under both species are not heretics, but
schismatics.

757 17. The treasures of the Church, from which the pope grants indulgences, are not the merits of Christ and of the saints.

758 18. Indulgences are pious frauds of the faithful, and remissions of
good works; and they are among the number of those things which are
allowed, and not of the number of those which are advantageous.

759 19. Indulgences are of no avail to those who truly gain
them, for the remission of the penalty due to actual sin in the sight
of divine justice.

760 20. They are seduced who believe that indulgences are salutary and useful for the fruit of the spirit.

761 21. Indulgences are necessary only for public crimes, and are properly conceded only to the harsh and impatient.

762 22. For six kinds of men indulgences are neither necessary
nor useful. namely, for the dead and those about to die, the infirm,
those legitimately hindered, and those who have not committed crimes,
and those who have committed crimes, but not public ones, and those who
devote themselves to better things.

763 23. Excommunications are only external penalties and they do
not deprive man of the common spiritual prayers of the Church.

764 24. Christians must be taught to cherish excommunications rather than to fear them.

765 25. The Roman Pontiff, the successor of PETER, is not the vicar of
Christ over all the churches of the entire world, instituted by Christ
Himself in blessed PETER.

766 26. The word of Christ to PETER:"Whatsoever you shall loose on
earth, etc."(Matt. 16) is extended merely to those things bound by
Peter himself.

767 27. It is certain that it is not in the power of the Church or the
pope to decide upon the articles of faith, and much less concerning the
laws for morals or for good works.

768 28. If the pope with a great part of the Church thought so and so,
he would not err; still it is not a sin or heresy to think the
contrary, especially in a matter not necessary for salvation, until one
alternative is condemned and another approved by a general Council.

769 29. A way has been made for us for weakening the authority of
Councils, and for freely contradicting their actions, and judging their
decrees, and boldly confessing whatever seems true, whether it has been
approved, or disapproved by any Council whatsoever.

770 30. Some articles of John Hus, condemned in the Council of
CONSTANCE, are most Christian, wholly true and evangelical; these the
universal Church could not condemn.

771 31. In every good work the just man sins.

772 32. A good work done very well is a venial sin.

773 33. That heretics be burned is against the will of the Spirit.

774 34. To go to war against the Turks is to resist God who punishes our iniquities through them.

775 35. No one is certain that he is not always sinning mortally; because of the most hidden vice of pride.

776 36. Free will after sin is a matter of title only; and as long as one does what is in him, one sins mortally.

777 37. Purgatory cannot be proved from Sacred Scripture, which is in the canon.

778 38. The souls in purgatory are not sure of their salvation, at
least not all; nor is it proved by any arguments or by the Scriptures
that they are beyond the state of meriting or of increasing in charity.

779 39. The souls in purgatory sin without intermission, as long as they seek rest and abhor punishments.

780 40. The souls freed from purgatory by the suffrages of the living
are less happy than if they had made satisfactions by themselves.

781 41. Ecclesiastical prelates and secular princes would not act badly if they destroyed all of the money-bags of beggary.

Censure of the Holy Pontiff:"All and each of the above mentioned
articles or errors, so to speak, as set before you, we condemn,
disapprove, and entirely reject as respectively heretical, or
scandalous, or false, or offensive to pious ears, or seductive of
simple minds, and in opposition to Catholic truth.

Hadrian VI 1522 - 1523 Clement VII 1523 - 1534

PAUL III 1534-1549

COUNCIL OF TRENT 1545-1563

Ecumenical XIX (Contra Novatores 16 cent.)

SESSION III (Feb.4, 1546)

The Creed of the Catholic Faith is Accepted *

782 This sacred and holy ecumenical and general Synod of Trent,
lawfully assembled in the Holy Spirit, with the three legates of the
Apostolic See presiding over it, in consideration of the magnitude of
the matters to be transacted, especially those which are comprised
under these two heads, the extirpation of heresies and the reform of
morals, because of which chiefly the Synod was convoked . . ., has
proposed that the creed of faith, which the Holy Roman Church utilizes,
inasmuch as it is that principle, wherein all who profess the faith of
Christ necessarily agree, and is the firm and sole foundation, against
which the "gates of Hell shall never prevail" [Matt. 16:18], be
expressed in the very same words in which it is read in all the
churches. This creed is as follows:

[The Nicean-Constantinopolitan Creed follows, see n. 86.]

Session IV (April 8, 1546)

The Sacred Books and the Traditions of the Apostles are Accepted *

783 The sacred and holy ecumenical and general Synod of
Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Spirit, with the same three
Legates of the Apostolic See presiding over it, keeping this constantly
in view, that with the abolishing of errors, the purity itself of the
Gospel is preserved in the Church, which promised before through the
Prophets in the Holy Scriptures our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God
first promulgated with His own mouth, and then commanded "to be
preached" by His apostles "to every creature" as the source of every
saving truth and of instruction in morals [Matt. 28:19ff., Mark 16:15],
and [the Synod] clearly perceiving that this truth and instruction are
contained in the written books and in the unwritten traditions, which
have been received by the apostles from the mouth of Christ Himself, or
from the apostles themselves, at the dictation of the Holy Spirit, have
come down even to us, transmitted as it were from hand to hand, [the
Synod] following the examples of the orthodox Fathers, receives and
holds in veneration with an equal affection of piety and reverence all
the books both of the Old and of the New Testament, since one God is
the author or both, and also the traditions themselves, those that
appertain both to faith and to morals, as having been dictated either
by Christ's own word of mouth, or by the Holy Spirit, and preserved in
the Catholic Church by a continuous succession. And so that no doubt
may arise in anyone's mind as to which are the books that are accepted
by this Synod, it has decreed that a list of the Sacred books be added
to this decree.

784 They are written here below:

Books of the Old Testament:The five books of Moses, namely,
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Josue, Judges, Ruth,
four books of Kings, two of Paralipomenon, the first book of Esdras,
and the second which is called Nehemias, Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job,
the Psalter of David consisting of 150 psalms, the Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, the canticle of Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus,
Isaias, Jeremias with Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel, the twelve minor
Prophets, that is Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Michaeas, Nahum,
Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zacharias, Malachias; two books of the
Machabees, the first and the second.

Books of the New Testament:the four Gospels, according to
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles, written by
Luke the Evangelist, fourteen epistles of Paul the Apostle, to the
Romans, to the Corinthians two, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to
the Philippians, to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to
Timothy, to Titus, to Phi lemon, to the Hebrews; two of Peter the
Apostle, three of John the Apostle, one of the Apostle James, one of
the Apostle Jude, and the Apocalypse of John the Apostle. If anyone,
however, should not accept the said books as sacred and canonical,
entire with all their parts, as they were wont to be read in the
Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the old Latin Vulgate
edition, and if both knowingly and deliberately he should condemn the
aforesaid traditions let him be anathema. Let all, therefore,
understand in what order and in what manner the said Synod, after
having laid the foundation of the confession of Faith, will proceed,
and what testimonies and authorities it will mainly use in confirming
dogmas, and in restoring morals in the Church.

The Vulgate Edition of the Bible is Accepted and the

Method is Prescribed for the Interpretation

of (Sacred) Scripture, etc. *

785 Moreover, the same sacred and holy Synod taking into
consideration that no small benefit can accrue to the Church of God, if
it be made known which one of all the Latin editions of the sacred
books which are in circulation is to be considered authentic, has
decided and declares that the said old Vulgate edition, which has been
approved by the Church itself through long usage for so many centuries
in public lectures, disputations, sermons, and expositions, be
considered authentic, and that no one under any pretext whatsoever dare
or presume to reject it.

786 Furthermore, in order to curb impudent clever persons, the synod
decrees that no one who relies on his own judgment in matters of faith
and morals, which pertain to the building up of Christian doctrine, and
that no one who distorts the Sacred Scripture according to his own
opinions, shall dare to interpret the said Sacred Scripture contrary to
that sense which is held by holy mother Church, whose duty it is to
judge regarding the true sense and interpretation of holy Scriptures,
or even contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers, even though
interpretations of this kind were never intended to be brought to
light. Let those who shall oppose this be reported by their ordinaries
and be punished with the penalties prescribed by law. . . . [Then laws
are listed concerning the printing and approbation of books, for which
among other matters the decree is:] that henceforth the Sacred
Scripture, especially the aforesaid old and Vulgate edition, be printed
as correctly as possible, and that no one be allowed either to print or
cause to be printed any books whatever concerning sacred matters
without the name of the author, nor to sell them in the future or even
to keep them, unless they have been first examined and approved by the
ordinary. . .

Session v (June 17, 1546)

Decree On Original Sin *

787 That our Catholic faith, "without which it is impossible to please
God"[Heb. 11:16] may after the purging of errors continue in its own
perfect and spotless purity, and that the Christian people may not be
"carried about with every wind of doctrine" [Eph. 4:14], since that old
serpent, the perpetual enemy of the human race, among the very many
evils with which the Church of God in these our times is troubled, has
stirred up not only new, but even old dissensions concerning original
sin and its remedy, the sacred ecumenical and general Synod of Trent
lawfully assembled in the Holy Spirit with the same three legates of
the Apostolic See presiding over it, wishing now to proceed to the
recalling of the erring and to the confirming of the wavering, and
following the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures and of the holy
Fathers and of the most approved Councils, as well as the judgment and
the unanimity of the Church itself, has established, confesses, and
declares the following concerning original sin:

788 I. If anyone does not confess that the first man Adam, when he had
transgressed the commandment of God in Paradise, immediately lost his
holiness and the justice in which he had been established, and that he
incurred through the offense of that prevarication the wrath and
indignation of God and hence the death with which God had previously
threatened him, and with death captivity under his power, who
thenceforth "had the empire of death" [Heb. 2:14], that is of the
devil, and that through that offense of prevarication the entire Adam
was transformed in body and soul for the worse [see n. 174], let him be
anathema.

789 2. If anyone asserts that the transgression of Adam has harmed him
alone and not his posterity, and that the sanctity and justice,
received from God, which he lost, he has lost for himself alone and not
for us also; or that he having been defiled by the sin of disobedience
has transfused only death "and the punishments of the body into the
whole human race, but not sin also, which is the death of the soul,"
let him be anathema, since he contradicts the Apostle who says: "By one
man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, and so death passed
upon all men, in whom all have sinned" [Rom. 5:12; see n. 175].

790 3. If anyone asserts that this sin of Adam, which is one in origin
and transmitted to all is in each one as his own by propagation, not by
imitation, is taken away either by the forces of human nature, or by
any remedy other than the merit of the one mediator, our Lord Jesus
Christ [see n. 711], who has reconciled us to God in his own blood,
"made unto us justice, sanctification, and redemption" [1 Cor. 1:30];
or if he denies that that merit of Jesus Christ is applied to adults as
well as to infants by the sacrament of baptism, rightly administered in
the form of the Church: let him be anathema. "For there is no other
name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved . . ." [Acts
4:12]. Whence that word: "Behold the lamb of God, behold Him who taketh
away the sins of the world" [John 1:29]. And that other: "As many of
you as have been baptized, have put on Christ" [Gal. 3:27].

791 4. "If anyone denies that infants newly born from their mothers'
wombs are to be baptized," even though they be born of baptized
parents, "or says they are baptized indeed for the remission of sins,
but that they derive nothing of original sin from Adam, which must be
expiated by the laver of regeneration" for the attainment of life
everlasting, whence it follows, that in them the form of baptism for
the remission of sins is understood to be not true, but false: let him
be anathema. For what the Apostle has said: "By one man sin entered
into the world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon all men, in
whom all have sinned" [Rom. 5:12], is not to be understood otherwise
than as the Catholic Church spread everywhere has always understood it.
For by reason of this rule of faith from a tradition of the apostles
even infants, who could not as yet commit any sins of themselves, are
for this reason truly baptized for the remission of sins, so that in
them there may be washed away by regeneration, what they have
contracted by generation, [see n. 102]. "For unless a man be born again
of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God"
[John 3:5].

792 5. If anyone denies that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which is conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted,
or even asserts that the whole of that which has the true and proper
nature of sin is not taken away, but says that it is only touched in
person or is not imputed, let him be anathema. For in those who are
born again, God hates nothing, because "there is no condemnation, to
those who are truly buried together with Christ by baptism unto death"
[Rom. 6:4], who do not "walk according to the flesh" [Rom. 8:1], but
putting off "the old man" and putting on the "new, who is created
according to God" [Eph. 4:22 ff.; Col. 3:9 ff.], are made innocent,
immaculate, pure, guiltless and beloved sons of God, "heirs indeed of
God, but co-heirs with Christ" [Rom.8:17], SO that there is nothing
whatever to retard their entrance into heaven. But this holy Synod
confesses and perceives that there remains in the baptized
concupiscence of an inclination, although this is left to be wrestled
with, it cannot harm those who do not consent, but manfully resist by
the grace of Jesus Christ. Nay, indeed, "he who shall have striven
lawfully, shall be crowned" [2 Tim. 2:5]. This concupiscence, which at
times the Apostle calls sin [Rom. 6:12 ff.] the holy Synod declares
that the Catholic Church has never understood to be called sin, as
truly and properly sin in those born again, but because it is from sin
and inclines to sin. But if anyone is of the contrary opinion, let him
be anathema.

6. This holy Synod declares nevertheless that it is not its
intention to include in this decree, where original sin is treated of,
the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary mother of God, but that the
constitutions of Pope SIXTUS IV of happy memory are to be observed,
under the penalties contained in these constitutions, which it renews
[see n. 734 ff:].

SESSION VI (Jan. 13, 1547)

Decree On Justification *

Introduction

792a Since at this time not without the loss of many souls and
grave detriment to the unity of the Church there is disseminated a
certain erroneous doctrine concerning justification, the holy
ecumenical and general synod of Trent lawfully assembled in the Holy
Spirit, the Most Reverends John Maria, Bishop of Praeneste, de Monte,
and Marcellus, priest of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, cardinals of the
Holy Roman Church and apostolic legates a latere, presiding therein in
the name of our Most Holy Father and Lord in Christ, Paul, the third
Pope by the providence of God, for the praise and glory of Almighty
God, for the tranquillity of the Church and the salvation of souls,
purpose to expound to all the faithful of Christ the true and salutary
doctrine of justification, which the "son of justice" [Mal. 4:2],
Christ Jesus, "the author and finisher of our faith" [Heb. 12:2]
taught, the apostles transmitted and the Catholic Church, under the
instigation of the Holy Spirit, has always retained, strictly
forbidding that anyone henceforth may presume to believe, preach or
teach, otherwise than is defined and declared by this present decree.

Chap. 1. On the Inability of Nature and of the Law to Justify Man

793 The holy Synod decrees first that for a correct and sound
understanding of the doctrine of justification it is necessary that
each one recognize and confess that, whereas all men had lost their
innocence in the prevarication of Adam [Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22: see n.
130], "having become unclean" [Isa. 64:6], and (as the Apostle says),
"by nature children of wrath" [Eph. 2:3], as it (the Synod) has set
forth in the decree on original sin, to that extent were they the
servants of sin [Rom. 5:20], and under the power of the devil and of
death, that not only the gentiles by the force of nature [can. 1], but
not even the Jews by the very letter of the law of Moses were able to
be liberated or to rise therefrom, although free will was not
extinguished in them [can. 5], however weakened and debased in its
powers [see n. 81].

Chap. 2. On the Dispensation and Mystery of the Advent of Christ

794 Whereby it came to pass that the heavenly Father, "the Father of
mercies and the God of all comfort" [2 Cor. 1:3], when that "blessed
fullness of time" was come [Eph. 1:10; Gal. 4:4] sent to men Christ
Jesus [can. 1], his Son, who had been announced and promised [cf. Gen.
49:10, 18], both before the Law and at the time of the Law to many holy
Fathers, that He might both redeem the Jews, who were under the Law,
and the "gentiles, who did not follow after justice, might attain to
justice" [Rom. 9:30], and that all men "might receive the adoption of
sons" [Gal. 4:5]. "Him God has proposed as a propitiator through faith
in his blood, for our sins" [Rom. 3:25], and not for our sins only, but
also for those of the whole world [1 John 2:2].

Chap. 3. Who are Justifed Through Christ

795 But although Christ died for all [2 Cor. 5:15], yet not all receive
the benefit of His death, but those only to whom the merit of His
passion is communicated. For, as indeed men would not be born unjust,
if they were not born through propagation of the seed of Adam, since by
that propagation they contract through him, in conception, injustice as
their own, so unless they were born again in Christ, they never would
be justified [can. 2 and 10], since in that new birth through the merit
of His passion, the grace, whereby they are made just, is bestowed upon
them. For this benefit the Apostle exhorts us always to "give thanks to
the Father who has made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the
saints in light" [Col. 1:12], "and has delivered us from the power of
darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his
love, in whom we have redemption and remission of sins [Col. 1:13 ff.].

Chap. 4. A Description of the Justification of the Sinner, and Its

Mode in the State of Grace is Recommended

796 In these words a description of the justification of a sinner is
given as being a translation from that state in which man is born a
child of the first Adam to the state of grace and of the "adoption of
the sons" [Rom. 8:15] of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our
Savior; and this translation after the promulgation of the Gospel
cannot be effected except through the laver of regeneration [can. 5 de
bapt.], or a desire for it, as it is written: "Unless a man be born
again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God" [John 3:5].

Chap. 5. On the Necessity of Preparation for Justification of

Adults, and Whence it Proceeds

797 It [the Synod] furthermore declares that in adults the beginning of
that justification must be derived from the predisposing grace [can. 3]
of God through Jesus Christ, that is, from his vocation, whereby
without any existing merits on their part they are called, so that they
who by sin were turned away from God, through His stimulating and
assisting grace are disposed to convert themselves to their own
justification, by freely assenting to and cooperating with the same
grace [can. 4 and 5], in such wise that, while God touches the heart of
man through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself receiving
that inspiration does not do nothing at all inasmuch as he can indeed
reject it, nor on the other hand can he [can. 3] of his own free will
without the grace of God move himself to justice before Him. Hence,
when it is said in the Sacred Writings: "Turn ye to me, and I will turn
to you" [Zach. 1:3], we are reminded of our liberty; when we reply:
"Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted" [Lam. 5:21],
we confess that we are anticipated by the grace of God.

Chap. 6. The Manner of Preparation

798 Now they are disposed to that justice [can. 7 and 9] when, aroused
and assisted by divine grace, receiving faith "by hearing" [Rom.
10:17], they are freely moved toward God, believing that to be true
which has been divinely revealed and promised [can. 12 and 14], and
this especially, that the sinner is justified by God through his grace,
"through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" [Rom. 3:24], and when
knowing that they are sinners, turning themselves away from the fear of
divine justice, by which they are profitably aroused [can. 8], to a
consideration of the mercy of God, they are raised to hope, trusting
that God will be merciful to them for the sake of Christ, and they
begin to love him as the source of all justice and are therefore moved
against sins by a certain hatred and detestation [can. 9], that is, by
that repentance, which must be performed before baptism [Acts 2:38];
and finally when they resolve to receive baptism, to begin a new life
and to keep the commandments of God. Concerning this disposition it is
written: "He that cometh to God must believe, that he is and is a
rewarder to them that seek him" [Heb. 11:6], and, "Be of good faith,
son, thy sins are forgiven thee" [Matt. 9:2; Mark 2:5], and, "The fear
of the Lord driveth out sin" [Sirach. 1:27], and, "Do penance, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Spirit" [Acts 2:38], and,
"Going therefore teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you" [Matt. 28:19], and finally,
"Prepare your hearts unto the Lord" [1 Samuel 7:3].

Chap. 7. In What the Justification of the Sinner Consists, and

What are its Causes

799 Justification itself follows this disposition or preparation, which
is not merely remission of sins [can. II], but also the sanctification
and renewal of the interior man through the voluntary reception of the
grace and gifts, whereby an unjust man becomes a just man, and from
being an enemy becomes a friend, that he may be "an heir according to
hope of life everlasting" [Tit. 3:7]. The causes of this justification
are: the final cause indeed is the glory of God and of Christ and life
eternal; the efficient cause is truly a merciful God who gratuitously
"washes and sanctifies" [1 Cor. 6:11], "signing and anointing with the
Holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance" [Eph.
1:13f.]; but the meritorious cause is His most beloved only-begotten
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, "who when we were enemies" [cf. Rom. 5:10],
"for the exceeding charity wherewith he loved us" [Eph. 2:4], merited
justification for us [can. 10] by His most holy passion on the wood of
the Cross, and made satisfaction for us to God the Father; the
instrumental cause is the sacrament of baptism, which is the "sacrament
of faith,''* without which no one is ever justified. Finally the unique
formal cause is the "justice of God, not that by which He Himself is
just, but by which He makes us just" * [can. 10 and 11], that, namely,
by which, when we are endowed with it by him, we are renewed in the
spirit of our mind, and not only are we reputed, but we are truly
called and are just, receiving justice within us, each one according to
his own measure, which the "Holy Spirit distributes to everyone as he
wills" [1. Cor. 12:11], and according to each one's own disposition and
cooperation.

800 For although no one can be just but he to whom the merits of the
passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated, yet this does take
place in this justification of the ungodly when by the merit of that
same most holy passion "the charity of God is poured forth by the Holy
Spirit in the hearts" [Rom. 5:5] of those who are justified, and
inheres in them [can. II]. Hence man through Jesus Christ, into whom he
is ingrafted, receives in the said justification together with the
remission of sins all these [gifts] infused at the same time: faith,
hope, and charity. For faith, unless hope and charity be added to it,
neither unites one perfectly with Christ, nor makes him a living member
of his body. For this reason it is most truly said that "faith without
works is dead" [Jas.2:17],and is of no profit [can. 19], and "in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but
faith, which worketh by charity" [Gal. 5:6; 6:15]. This faith, in
accordance with apostolic tradition, catechumens beg of the Church
before the sacrament of baptism, when they ask for "faith which bestows
life eternal,''* which without hope and charity faith cannot bestow.
Thence also they hear immediately the word of Christ: "If thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments" [Matt. 19:17; can. 18-20].
Therefore, when receiving true and Christian justice, they are
commanded immediately on being reborn, to preserve it pure and spotless
as the "first robe" [Luke 15:22] given to them through Christ Jesus in
place of that which Adam by his disobedience lost for himself and for
us, so that they may bear it before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus
Christ and have life eternal. *